The ‘unacceptable’ Manchester City players were scolded by Pep Guardiola for their disintegration against Arsenal.

Erling Haaland headed in an equalizer after 55 minutes as the Premier League champions overcame a terrible start and wore down Arsenal’s defense. But they fell behind 3-1 in just seven minutes, and a raging Arsenal turned the match into a landslide, marking just the second occasion Guardiola’s City have given up five goals.

Guardiola concurred with the decision after John Stones blasted the game’s last third as unsatisfactory, implying that his team had thrown off their strategy in an attempt to find a different method to win. Consequently, defeat turned into humiliation.

“You can lose by two or three or four but in the last 30 minutes we have to do it and we don’t have a defense,” he stated. “They wanted to fix it out of pride, but that’s not the right way, therefore we didn’t follow through on our plan.

“You must adhere to our actions at that level. Regretfully, what transpired did occur, but maybe we can take the lesson into account going forward.

“You may experience setbacks, but this season, it makes no difference. Even if we lose, we must keep doing what we are doing. You are stable that way. We cannot assume that we will find a different solution. That’s not what we’re used to.

“They may be weak, but they must fulfill their obligations, and they failed to do so. There is always room for improvement, and we may learn.”